Climate outlook for April

Following a cold and dry March, NOAA's climate outlook for April slightly favors above normal temperatures and above normal precipitation for western Alaska.
The only regional exception is St. Lawrence Island, where neither above nor below normal temperatures are favored for the month as a whole.
It remains to be seen how the extensive sea ice in the Bering Sea influences our April weather overall. Historically, in April the strengthening sunshine boasts temperatures as the month progresses, with the daily average temperature rising 17 degrees from the first to the 30th (compared to a four degree increase during March).
Winter cold can linger into early April, as we saw in 2023, when temperatures dipped to -30°F at Nome, tying the all-time record low.
April 1940 was by far the mildest April in the region. Temperatures that month reached 60°F in Nome, which is still the record high for April. April is frequently the driest month of the year, though several Aprils in recent years have had copious snow (and as happened in 2020, significant rain). Most of the region remains snow covered through April, but bare ground often shows up later in the month at low elevations on the southern Seward Peninsula, usually from White Mountain eastward, but occasionally as far west as Nome.